Apart from the fact that the vast majority of people use it in this way, relatively nothing supports the idea that « open source » is a software topic.
We could be experiencing a paradigm shift in the meaning given to this concept, switching from software with an available source code to something around any type of digital resources whose sources are provided, in particular to enable modification.
From open source software to open source resources more broadly.
We see this terminology of "source(s)" being used to describe components from which resources are created, we see the notion of open source used outside of software to qualify their availability, and there is a tendency among a number of open source (software) specialists to agree that the use of the term outside software makes sense, in relatively unanimous terms.
« Open source » beyond software is already an existing reality.
We then have two coexisting meanings, between the more conventional one and the new one more restricted to specialised environments.
This makes it harder to know what open source truly is, it makes it harder to explain what it is, a concept that remains very vague and undetermined.
For the past month, discussions have been taking place with The Turing Way community about this confusion surrounding open source, to highlight this debate and see how it can be addressed in the book if appropriate.
Debates ensue as to whether we should follow a more conventional meaning or the more exotic one supported by experts, about whether to continue to introduce this as a software subject or not, about whether we are really facing an evolution of the concept or if new words are missing, the potential utility of this semantic evolution.
It's about introducing a contentious concept in evolution that we barely understand on top of political dissensus with people who have strong opinions and beliefs.
There is an ongoing discussion to create a new chapter for an Open Source (Re)Definition: https://github.com/the-turing-way/the-turing-way/pull/3705
See also the preview of the page proposal for open source: https://deploy-preview-3705--the-turing-way.netlify.app/reproducible-research/open/open-source
Open source could take on a new meaning that could render current conventions obsolete.
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